Chaos applied apparatus

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for heating a microwave oven using a deterministic chaotic signal. The microwave oven includes a heating compartment, a magnetron for generating microwaves, a waveguide for directing the microwaves into the heating compartment and a chaotic signal generator for driving the magnetron. The characteristics of the chaotic signal are adjusted to tend to vary the output energy of the magnetron and increase the uniformity of the microwaves in the heating compartment.

This application is a division of U.S. Pat. application No. 09/271,228,filed Mar. 17, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,416 which is a division ofU.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 08/844,302 filed Apr. 18, 1997, now U.S.Pat. No. 6,263,888, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. applicationSer. No. 08/278,384 filed Jul. 21, 1994, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Related Art of the Invention

The prior art is described below while referring to an example of dishwasher.

A conventional dish washer is shown in FIG. 14. Reference numeral 1010denotes a body of a dish washer, 1020 is a lid through which dishes areput inside the dish washer, 1030 is a feed water hose for feeding waterinto the dish washer, 1040 is a nozzle drive pump for pressurizing waterfrom the feed water hose 1030, 1050 is a rotary nozzle, 1060 is a drainpump for discharging water collected inside, 1070 is a drain hose forleading wastewater to outside of the dish washer, and 1080 is a controlcircuit for controlling the operation timing of the nozzle drive pump1040 and drain pump 1060. In thus constituted conventional dish washer,the water supplied from the feed water hose 1030 is pressurized by thenozzle drive pump 1040, and is supplied into the rotary nozzle 1050.

A conventional example of the rotary nozzle 104 is shown in FIG. 15.FIG. 15 is a top view of the rotary nozzle 105, which comprises fourwater injection ports (A, B, C, D). The water injection direction ateach injection port is set in the horizontal direction to the plane ofrotation of the nozzle in A, and in the vertical direction to the planeof the nozzle in B, C, D. Therefore, by the reaction of water injectionfrom the injection port A, the nozzle is put into rotation, while thedishes are washed by the injection of water from the other injectionports (B, C, D). Thus, the nozzle injects water to the dishes whilerotating.

The water injected to the dishes is collected in the drain pump 1060,pressurized, and discharged outside through the drain hose 1070. Thenozzle drive pump 1040 and drain pump 1080 are controlled by the controlcircuit 1080, so as to be controlled at adequate operation timingdepending on the cleaning process such as dish washing, rough rinsingand final rinsing.

The rotation trajectories of the injection ports of the conventionalrotary nozzle 1050 are shown in FIG. 16. As clear from FIG. 16, thenozzle makes simple rotations, and the trajectory of injection port is acomplete circle. Therefore, the water injected from the rotary nozzle1050 hits only a limited area of a dish, and sufficient washing effectis not obtained depending on the configuration of dishes, or water doesnot permeate into narrow gaps of dishes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the light of such background, it is hence a primary object of theinvention to present a rotary nozzle apparatus capable of driving thenozzle by applying the chaos technology so as to inject water uniformlyto the object.

To achieve the object, the invention presents a rotary nozzle apparatuscomprising a pump for pressurizing a fluid, a nozzle composed of pluralrotatable hollow links which are mutually in passing through, and atleast one fluid injection port in at least one hollow link of thenozzle, in which the fluid is injected from the injection port whilerotating the hollow link by the force of the fluid pressurized by thepump, and the shape, weight, and position of center of gravity of thelink, the fluid injection angle of the injection port, and thepressurizing pattern of the pump are adjusted, so that the motion of thenozzle is set in chaotic state.

Chaos is characterized by unstable trajectory (see T. S. Parker, L. O.Chua: Practical Numerical Algorithm for Chaotic System, Springer-Verlag,1989), the nozzle in chaotic state never passes the same trajectory.Therefore, the nozzle in chaotic state is capable of sprinkling watermore uniformly as compared with the conventional nozzle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are diagrams showing a rotary nozzle apparatus in afirst embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are explanatory diagrams of a one-link nozzletrajectory and a two-link nozzle trajectory, respectively.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a method for detecting motion of thenozzle.

FIG. 4 is an operation trajectory diagram of the rotary nozzle inchaotic state.

FIGS. 5(a), 5(b), 5(c) and 5(d) are diagrams showing rotary nozzleshaving the same effects as the rotary nozzle in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a constitution of a rotary nozzle apparatusin a second embodiment.

FIGS. 7(a), 7(b) and 7(c) are diagrams showing changing patterns apressurizing force.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a constitution of a rotary nozzle apparatusin a third embodiment.

FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b) are diagrams showing the constitution of connectionof the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the constitution of connections of thethird embodiment.

FIGS. 10(a) and 10(b) are diagrams showing the constitution ofconnections of the third embodiment.

FIGS. 11(a) and 11(b) are explanatory diagrams showing changes inintensity of injected water depending on the rotation of the link.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a constitution of a rotary nozzle apparatusin a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a constitution of a dish washer as a fifthembodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a constitution of a conventional dishwasher.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a constitution of a conventional rotarynozzle.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a constitution of connection of the fifthembodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a constitution of a prior art ofair-conditioner.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a constitution of an air-conditioner in asixth embodiment.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of pie kneading conversion.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of Bernoulli shift.

FIG. 21 shows time series data generated by Bernoulli shift.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an electric circuit for generating a chaossignal.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a chaotic on/off signal.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a constitution of an air-conditioner foroperating a wind direction plate chaotically.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a constitution of an air-conditioner fordriving a compressor chaotically.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a constitution of an air-conditioner as aseventh embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a constitution of an air-conditioner as aneighth embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a constitution of a refrigerator as a ninthembodiment.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a constitution of a refrigerator as a tenthembodiment.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a constitution of an electric fan as aneleventh embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a constitution of an electric heated tableas a twelfth embodiment.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing a constitution of an electronic carpet.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing a constitution of a microwave oven as athirteenth embodiment.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing a constitution of a microwave oven fordriving the table chaotically.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing a constitution of a microwave oven fordriving the magnetron chaotically.

FIG. 36 is a diagram showing a constitution of an oven-toaster forchanging the output of the heater chaotically.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing a constitution of a rice cooker as afourteenth embodiment.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing a constitution of a hot plate as afifteenth embodiment.

FIG. 39 is a diagram showing a constitution of an electromagneticcooking apparatus as a sixteenth embodiment.

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing an equivalent circuit to the circuit shownin FIG. 22 for generating a chaos signal.

FIGS. 41(a) -(o) are illustrations showing various Lissajous patternsdisplayed on an oscilloscope.

A detailed structure of the two-link rotary nozzle 2000 is shown in FIG.1 (b). The upper half of FIG. 1 (b) is a top view of the two-link rotarynozzle 2000, and the lower half is a side view. As shown in FIG. 1 (b),the two-link rotary nozzle 2000 is composed of two links (first link2-1, second link 2-2). Each link has plural injection ports, which areexpressed by symbols A to F in FIG. 1 (b). The direction of blowingwater from each injection port differs in each injection port.

The links and link connection parts are hollow, and the water comingsupplied up to the water intake port beneath the first link passesthrough the inside of the hollow link, and can reach up to the injectionport of the first link or second link. Incidentally, the two links inthe diagram are coupled at the center 02, and the second link 2-2 isfree to rotate at the center 02. The water intake port of the first linkis connected to the object machine, but the first link 2-1 is free torotate at the center 01.

In thus composed rotary nozzle apparatus, the operation is describedbelow.

First, water is pressurized by the nozzle drive pump 1000, and issupplied into the water intake port of the two-link rotary nozzle 2000.The supplied water passes through the inside of the first link andsecond link, and is injected from the injection ports A to F. The waterinjection direction from each injection port is the upward direction tothe plane of rotation of the nozzle in B, C, D, E, and in the lateraldirection in A and F.

FIG. 1 (b) shows the water injection direction at each injection port byarrow. The injection ports B, C, D, E blow out the water in thedirection vertical to the plane of rotation of the nozzle, and wash thedishes. On the other hand, the injection ports A and F blow out thewater in the direction parallel to the plane of rotation of the nozzle,so that the nozzle can be rotated by the reaction of the injected water.

In this way, by inclining the water blowing direction from severalinjection ports in the rotatable directions of the nozzle, a rotaryforce can be applied to the links, and the nozzle can inject water whilerotating.

In the conventional rotary nozzle apparatus shown in FIG. 15, sincewater is injected parallel to the plane of rotation of the link, wateris injected while rotating. However, in the conventional rotary nozzleapparatus, since there is only one link, the trajectory of the injectionport is a simple circle.

In the embodiment, by contrast, the nozzle is composed of two links, andthe rotary trajectory of the injection port on the second link is morecomplicated than the conventional circular trajectory.

A simulation result of rotary trajectory of the injection port D in theconventional rotary nozzle apparatus in FIG. 15 is shown in FIG. 2 (a),and a simulation result of the injection port C on the second link 2-2of the two-link rotary nozzle 2000 is shown in FIG. 2 (b). In FIG. 2(b), however, the structure of the first link 2-1 and second link 2-2 ofthe two-link rotary nozzle is designed to be symmetrical about thecenter of rotation of each link (in this case, the center of rotation ofeach link coincides with the position of the center of gravity of eachlink), and the water injection direction of the injection ports A and Fis a completely lateral direction, from which the simulation result isobtained, and accordingly, in this case, the ratio of the rotating speedof the first link 2-1 to the rotating speed of the second link 2-2 isconstant, being about 2:5 in this case.

As known from FIG. 2, the injection port of the conventional rotarynozzle apparatus moves on one circumference, while the nozzle is makingmore complicated actions in the embodiment.

In the case of FIG. 2 (b), the rotation is periodic, and whatever timemay pass, the injection port will not pass other than the trajectoryshown in FIG. 2 (b). In the two-link rotary nozzle 2000, however, bychanging the design of the link and injection port, it is possible todrive more complicatedly than in FIG. 2 (b).

As the more complicated state of trajectory, the chaotic state is known.The chaos herein means a deterministic chaos, and refers to a statewhich appears to be very unstable and random although a completeequation of motion is described. That is the chaos state is not “atrandom” but it does not take same track for ever in theory, that is, itdoes not take periodical track. The motion of a device having plurallinks, such as the two-link rotary nozzle 2000 can be transformed into achaotic state. For example, a manipulator with two or more links or adouble pendulum is known to be transformed into a chaotic state (seeNagashima & Baba: Introduction to Chaos, Baifukan 1992 Cin Japanese).

Chaos is basically characterized by unstable trajectory, and will neverpass the same trajectory again. Therefore, by setting the two-linkrotary nozzle into chaotic state, water can be injected more uniformly.

As the index of chaotic state, the chaos feature amounts such as thefractal dimension and Lyapunov exponent are known. By varying the waterinjection direction of the injection port, or the center of gravity,shape or weight of the link in order that these values may beappropriate, the two-link rotary nozzle can be set in chaotic state.

Herein, as an example, a method of determining the water blowingdirection of the injection port, the shape and position of center ofgravity of the link by using the largest Lyapunov exponent is shown.

The Lyapunov exponent is a numerical value showing how sensitive is thestate trajectory to the initial value, and in particular when thelargest Lyapunov exponent is a positive value, it is known that thesystem behaves chaotically. Several methods have been already proposedat academic meetings for calculating the Lyapunov exponent. Herein, thelargest Lyapunov exponent is calculated by the method proposed by Satoet al. (S. Sato, M. Sano, Y, Sawada: “Practical methods of measuring thegeneralized dimension and the largest Lyapunov exponent in highdimensional chaotic system” Prog. Theor. Phs., Vol. 77, No. 1, January1987)

Suppose, as shown in FIG. 3, an angle sensor is attached to the two-linkrotary nozzle 2000 so as to detect the rotational angle of the firstlink and second link, individually. From the detected rotational angle,the position of the front end of the second link can be easilycalculated, and the position is expressed as x(i), y(i), where i refersto the time. From the nozzle front end position x(i), consequently, atime series vector X(i)={x(i), x(i+T), x(i+2T), . . . , x(i+(d−1)xT)} iscreated, and an attractor is recomposed, where d denotes the dimensionof the time series vector, and T is the time lag amount. Both d and Tare set at proper values. At this time, selecting a proper hyper planein an d-dimensional space, and a vector X(i)−X(i+1) crossing this hyperplane is determined. The coordinates of the intersection on the hyperplane is determined as the point of interior division of X(i) andX(i+1), and a set on the plane {Xp1, Xp2, . . . , Xpk, . . .} iscreated. In this set, all pairs of which distance is not more than thespecified threshold value E are selected, and two points among them areexpressed as Xpk, Xpk′. At this time, the largest Lyapunov exponent L iscalculated in the following formula. $\begin{matrix}{{L({tau})} = {\frac{1}{tau}\frac{1}{Np}{\sum\limits_{K = l}^{Np}\quad \frac{{{Xpk} + {tau} - {Xpk}^{\prime} + {tau}}}{{{Xpk} - {Xpk}^{\prime}}}}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

where Np denotes the total number of data pairs of which distance is notmore than the threshold value E.

In formula (1), it is known that L(tau) converges when the value of tauis increased. The value of L(tau) when converging is the largestLyapunov exponent. Other methods are also proposed for calculating thelargest Lyapunov exponent (for example, T. S. Parker, L. O. Chua:Practical Numerical Algorithm for Chaotic System, Springer-Verlag,1988). If calculated in other methods, the same effects as in theembodiment will be obtained.

By repeating such calculation as to determine the largest Lyapunovexponent while varying the angle of injection port on the second nozzle,or the center of gravity of link, etc., it is possible to find themoment when the largest Lyapunov exponent becomes a positive value notzero.

By conforming to the design of the injection port and link when thelargest Lyapunov exponent becomes positive, the nozzle can drive thechaotic state.

FIG. 4 shows the trajectory of the injection port C of the two-linkrotary nozzle in chaotic state. FIG. 4 is not obtained by numericalcalculation, but is obtained by the angle sensors in FIG. 3 when theactual machine of the two-link rotary nozzle 2000 is set in chaoticstate.

As clear from FIG. 4, the nozzle passing region is increased from thestate in FIGS. 2 (a), (b), and it is known that water can be sprinkleduniformly.

Incidentally, it is only in the design stage of the nozzle alone thatthe angle sensor is installed as shown in FIG. 3, and it is not neededin the shipped product and in ordinary operation, and the rotary nozzleapparatus is constituted as shown in FIG. 1.

As described so far, according to the embodiment, using a nozzlecomposed of two links, by properly setting the water injection directionof the nozzle, or the position of center of gravity, weight or shape ofthe links, the motion of the nozzle can be set in chaotic state. Thenozzle in chaotic state is unstable in trajectory, and does not pass thesame trajectory again. Therefore, water can be sprinkled uniformly, andalso by investigating the chaos feature amount such as the Lyapunovexponent, the nozzle can be set in an appropriate chaotic state.

In this embodiment, meanwhile, as the parameter of the nozzle to bechanged, the water blowing angle of the injection port, the position ofcenter of gravity and weight of the link, and the like were used.Therefore, the nozzle motion can be always set in chaotic state anduniform washing is realized even when, as shown in FIG. 5, (a) theposition of center of gravity of the second link is varied, (b) theposition of center of gravity is changed by putting a weight on thesecond link, (c) multiple links are used instead of two, or (d) the playin the joint between the first link and second link is increased so thatthe center of rotation or center of gravity of the link may varydepending on the flow of water.

Also in the embodiment, although the largest Lyapunov exponent is usedas the method for judging the chaotic state, the same effect is obtainedby using other feature amount such as the fractal dimension. Inparticular, the fractal dimension is excellent as a method of judgingthe chaotic state. The fractal dimension indicates the self-similarityof obtained data, and a non-integer dimension is presented in chaos. Asthe fractal dimension, several dimensions are proposed, includinginformation dimension, capacity dimension and correlation dimension.Among these dimensions, the correlation dimension is widely employedbecause the calculation is easy.

The correlation dimension was first proposed by Grassberger andProcaccia in 1983, and it is determined by using the correlationintegral. The correlation integral C(r) is determined in the followingformula. $\begin{matrix}{{C(r)} = {\frac{1}{N*N}{\sum\limits_{i,j}^{N}\quad {H\left( {r - {{{X(i)} - {X(j)}}}} \right)}}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

where X(i) is the time series vector defined above, H denotes Heavisidefunction, and N is the total number of time series vectors.

when the correlation integration C(r) has the following relation, D iscalled the correlation dimension.

log C(r)=D log r+Q  (3)

where Q is a constant. To determine the correlation dimension, first,C(r) is calculated by Eq.(2) ,for some vlues of r , then the leastsquare method is applied to the calculated data of log C(r) and log r toobtain the proportional constant D. The obtained D converges as thevalue of the dimension number d of vector X is increased. Whenconverging sufficiently, D is the final calculation result of thecorrelation dimension. Therefore, while varying the design items of thetwo-link rotary nozzle 2000, such as water injection angle of injectionport and position of center of gravity of the link, by repeating thecalculation to find the correlation dimension, it is possible to findthe moment when the correlation dimension takes a proper value(non-integer). By setting the two-link rotary nozzle in the situation atthis time, the chaotic state can be driven.

As mentioned above, for fractal dimension, various calculation methodsare proposed for various dimensions, aside from correlation dimensions,including capacity dimension and information dimensions, but ifdetermined by employing other methods, the same effects as in theembodiment are obtained, that is, uniform water sprinkling capability isachieved.

FIG. 6 is a structural diagram of a rotary nozzle apparatus in a secondembodiment of the invention. Reference numeral 1000 is a nozzle drivepump for pressurizing supplied water, and 2000 is a two-link rotarynozzle which is rotated by the force of the water pressurized by thenozzle drive pump 1000 so as to inject water, and they are same as inthe constitution of the first embodiment. What is different from thefirst embodiment is that a pressurizing force control circuit 1001 forcontrolling the pressurizing force of the nozzle drive pump 1000 isprovided. In thus constituted rotary nozzle apparatus, the operation isdescribed below.

In the first embodiment, it is explained that the two-link rotary nozzleis set in chaotic state by properly designing the water injection angleof the injection port, center of gravity of link, etc. The nozzle inchaotic state is unstable in trajectory, and always varies intrajectory, never passing the same trajectory again. Therefore, ascompared with the nozzle making periodic motions, it is possible tosprinkle water more uniformly.

It is known that a chaotic state is more likely to occur in a systemhaving a higher degree of freedom. In this embodiment, as a systemcapable of realizing chaotic state more easily, an explanation is givento the rotary nozzle apparatus increased in the degree of freedom ofsystem by varying the pressurizing force of the nozzle drive pump 1000by means of the pressurizing force control circuit 3.

When the output of the nozzle drive pump 1000 is varied by thepressurizing force control circuit 1001 as shown in FIG. 7, the degreeof freedom of the entire rotary nozzle apparatus increases, and thenozzle easily changes to a chaotic state. In FIG. 7, the axis ofabscissas denotes the time, and the axis of ordinates represents thepressurizing force of the nozzle drive pump 1000, showing examples ofthree kinds of pressurizing force changing pattern, (a), (b), (c). FIG.7 (a) shows repetition of ON and OFF, (b) changes in trigonometricfunction, and (c) changes in sawtooth waves.

By using any one of these pressurization patterns, the two-link rotarynozzle is easily set in chaotic state. In this way, by varying thepressurizing force of the nozzle drive pump 1000 relatively to the timeby means of the pressurizing force control circuit 1001, the nozzle canbe set in chaotic state.

As explained herein, according to the embodiment, using the two-linkrotary nozzle, by changing the pressurizing force of the nozzle drivepump 1000 by means of the pressurizing force control circuit 1001, thenozzle behavior can be set in chaotic state. The nozzle set in chaoticstate is unstable in behavior, and does not pass the same trajectoryagain. Therefore, uniform water sprinkling is realized.

Or, by combining with the method disclosed in the first embodiment,while investigating the chaos feature amount such as Lyapunov exponent,the pressurizing pattern of the nozzle drive pump 1000 may be varied, orthe water injection direction of injection port, or the position ofcenter of gravity of link may be changed, so that the nozzle may be setin a proper chaotic state. In this case, since the feature amount suchas Lyapunov exponent is detected, the degree of chaos may be properlyset, and when applied in a dish washer, a further effect is broughtabout in the aspect of washing speed.

Examples of pressurizing pattern of the pressurizing force controlcircuit 1001 are shown in FIG. 7, but other patterns than shown in FIG.7 may be also used. In particular, a pressurizing pattern generated bysuch a function as to produce a chaos signal directly may be used. Byway of illustration thereof, an example of pressurizing pattern bylogistic function known well as chaos signal is shown below.

Supposing the time to be t and the pressurizing force of the nozzledrive pump 1000 to be p(t) (the variable range of pressurizing force,0≦p(t)≦P, the following function is assumed to be a pressurizingpattern.

p(t+T)=4*p(t)*(1−p(t)/P)  (4)

Herein, a logistic function is directly expressed as a pressurizingforce, and when the pressurizing force of the nozzle drive pump 1000 iscontrolled by using this formula (4), the nozzle behavior comes inchaotic state. Incidentally, the same effect as in the embodiment isobtained when the pressurizing force of the nozzle drive pump 1000 iscontrolled by using other functions that produce chaos signal other thanlogistic function, such as tent function, Bernoulli shift, andintermittent chaos.

FIG. 8 is a structural diagram of a rotary nozzle apparatus in a thirdembodiment of the invention. Reference numeral 1000 is a nozzle drivepump for pressurizing supplied water, which is same as in the firstembodiment. What differs from the first embodiment is that the two-linkrotary nozzle 2000 is modified into a water stream suppressing typetwo-link rotary nozzle 2001. In thus constituted rotary nozzleapparatus, the operation is described below.

A chaotic state is more likely to occur when the degree of freedom ofthe object system is higher. In the second embodiment, by varying theoutput of the nozzle drive pump 1000, the degree of freedom of theentire nozzle drive device is increased, and a chaotic state isproduced. In other method of increasing the degree of freedom of thesystem, for example, the structure of the joint of each link can bechanged.

In this embodiment, the link joint structure is modified, and the rotarynozzle apparatus is set in chaotic state as described below.

The structure of the joint part of the link of the rotary nozzleapparatus disclosed in the first embodiment is as shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 (1) shows the structure of the joint of the first link 2-1 andsecond link 2-2 of the two-link rotary nozzle 2000. Usually, the secondlink 2-2 is put on the joint enclosed by a circle, and fixed with nut sothat the second link 2-2 may not be separated from the first link 2-1.However, the second link 2-2 is free to rotate.

FIGS. 9 (a), (b) are magnified views of the circle enclosed portion(joint) of the first link 2-1 in FIG. 9 (1), showing a side view in FIG.9 (a) and a top view in (b). In the joint shown in FIG. 9, in order thatwater may flow smoothly from the first link to the second link, fourlarge holes are provided in the joint, and water can be guided from thefirst link to the second link with a small resistance.

By contrast, in the third embodiment, there is a water streamsuppressing type two-link rotary nozzle 2001 having a joint structuredas shown in FIG. 10. As clear from FIG. 10, this water streamsuppressing type two-link rotary nozzle 2001 has a fewer number of holesin the joint as compared with the first embodiment, and the water flowin the joint area is limited almost in one direction.

In the joint structure in FIG. 9, the total area of holes is wide, andthe water resistance in the joint hardly changes regardless of the angleformed by the first link and second link. On the other hand, in thewater stream suppressing type two-link rotary nozzle 2001, since thewater flow is limited almost in one direction in the joint area as shownin FIG. 10, the water injection force varies depending on the relativeposition of the links.

Change of injection force of water depending on the relative position ofthe links in the water stream suppressing type two-link rotary nozzle isexplained with reference to FIG. 11. In FIG. 11 (a), the second link20-2 is positioned almost in the same direction as the first link 20-1.At this time, the water flow up to the injection port F is indicated bydotted line in the diagram. Since the joint of the first link is asshown in FIG. 10, the resistance to water flow up to the injection portF is small, and the water is injected from the injection port Fgushingly.

In FIG. 11 (b), the angle formed by the second link 20-2 and first link20-1 is about 90 degrees. In this case, the water flow up to theinjection port F is bent as indicated by dotted line. At this time,since the joint of the first link is structured as shown in FIG. 10, thewater flow is bent more than expected in a certain point. The bendingportion is narrow in the water path as compared with the case in (a),and the resistance to water flow increases. Therefore, the gush of waterinjected from the injection port F drops, while the gush of water fromthe injection port of the first link where water is easy to pass isincreased.

Thus, by using the water stream suppressing type two-link rotary nozzle2001 modified in the structure of the joint, the injection force of thewater from each injection port varies depending on the relative positionof the links. Therefore, as compared with the first embodiment, thedegree of freedom to the behavior of the nozzle is increased, and it ismore likely to transform into chaotic state.

As explained herein, according to the embodiment, using the nozzle withmultiple links, by partly suppressing the water stream flowing in thenozzle or in the joint area, the gush of the water coming out of theinjection port can be varied depending on the relative position of thelinks. It means that the degree of freedom of the entire nozzle drivedevice can be increased, so that the nozzle behavior may be easily setin chaotic state. The nozzle in chaotic state is unstable in trajectory,and never passes the same trajectory again. Therefore, the water can besprinkled uniformly.

Combining with the method disclosed in the first embodiment, it is alsopossible to set the nozzle in an appropriate chaotic state byinvestigating the chaos feature amount such as Lyapunov exponent,varying the design of the joint, or changing the injection direction ofwater from the injection port, or the position of center of gravity ofthe link. In this case, since the feature amount such as Lyapunovexponent is detected, the degree of chaos can be properly set, whichbrings about a further effect in cleaning speed or the like.

FIG. 12 is a structural diagram of a rotary nozzle apparatus in a fourthembodiment of the invention. Reference numeral 1000 is a nozzle drivepump for pressurizing supplied water, 2000 is a two-link rotary nozzlewhich is rotated by the force of water pressurized by the nozzle drivepump 1000 to inject water, and 1001 is a pressurizing force controlcircuit for controlling the pressurizing amount of the nozzle drivepump, and these are similar to the constitution of the third embodiment.

What differs from the third embodiment is the provision of a sensor 3000for detecting the motion of the two-link rotary nozzle, and chaosfeature amount calculating circuit for calculating the feature amount ofchaos from the observation about the motion of the nozzle detected bythe sensor 3000. In thus constituted rotary nozzle apparatus, theoperation is described below.

The first to third embodiments relate to the nozzle drive device whichoperates in chaotic state. In a dish washer, for example, uniforminjection of water is demanded, and it is desired to operate the nozzlealways in chaotic state.

If, however, the nozzle is disturbed by dust etc., and the dynamiccharacteristic of the system varies, the chaotic state may not be alwaysmaintained in the methods explained in the first to third embodiments.To avoid such case, in this embodiment, the nozzle motion is detected inreal time, and an apparatus capable of driving always in stable chaoticstate is presented.

The sensor 3000 detects the nozzle motion, and plural angle sensors asshown in FIG. 3 may be used, or an image processing technology such asvideo camera may be applied. In this case, the angle sensor in FIG. 3 isused.

The angle of each link detected by the sensor 3000 is entered into achaos feature amount calculating circuit 3100, and the largest Lyapunovexponent which is one of the chaos feature amounts explained in thefirst embodiment is calculated. The calculating method of the largestLyapunov exponent in the chaos feature amount calculating circuit 31 maybe either the method mentioned in the first embodiment or other methodproposed at academic society.

When the largest Lyapunov exponent is a positive value, it means thenozzle is in chaotic state, and when it is 0, it is in periodic orquasi-periodic state.

Therefore, the chaos feature amount calculating circuit 3100 sends acommand, depending on the calculated largest Lyapunov exponent, to thepressurizing force control circuit 1001 for varying the pressurizingpattern if the largest Lyapunov exponent is near 0 or negative, or sendsa signal to the pressurizing force control circuit 1001 to continuepresent pressurizing pattern if the largest Lyapunov exponent is apositive value not close to 0.

The pressurizing force control circuit 1001 varies the pressurizingpattern according to the signal of the chaos feature amount calculatingcircuit 3100. The method of change is to vary the ON time Ton or OFFtime Toff in FIG. 7 (a) when pressurized in the pattern as shown in FIG.7 (a), or to vary the period of the sine curve when pressurized in thepattern as shown in FIG. 8 (b).

As explained herein, according to the embodiment, by observing thenozzle motion by the sensor and calculating the chaos feature amountfrom the result of observation, the nozzle driving state can be known.Furthermore, by using this information in control of pressurizing force,the nozzle can be driven always in optimum chaotic state. The nozzle inchaotic state is unstable in behavior, and does not pass the sametrajectory again. Therefore, by keeping always in chaotic state, uniformsprinkling of water is realized.

In the invention, since the sensor 3000 is added, non-chaotic state,that is, periodic or quasi-periodic state can be also detected.Therefore, not only to keep in chaotic state, it is also possible tochange over chaotic state and periodic state depending on the purpose ofuse of the nozzle or the situation of use. In this embodiment, the chaosfeature amount calculating circuit 3100 calculates the largest Lyapunovexponent, but the same effects are obtained by using other chaos featureamounts such as correlation dimension, capacity dimension, informationdimension, other fractal dimension, and Lyapunov dimension.

As a fifth embodiment of the invention, a dish washer is explained. FIG.13 shows the structure of a dish washer in this embodiment, in whichreference numeral 1010 is a body of a dish washer, 1020 is a lid, 1030is a water feed hose for taking water into the dish washer, 1040 is anozzle drive pump for pressurizing the water from the feed water hose1030 to rotate the nozzle and inject water, 1060 is a drain pump fordischarging the water applied on dishes, 1070 is a drain hose forleading the wastewater to the outside of the dish washer, and 1080 is acontrol circuit for controlling the nozzle drive pump 1040 and drainpump 1060. So far, these are common to the parts in the prior art inFIG. 14. What differs from the prior art is that the two-link rotarynozzle 2000 explained in the first embodiment is used instead of theone-link rotary nozzle.

As explained in the first embodiment, the two-link rotary nozzle can beset in chaotic state. By using the two-link rotary nozzle 2000 inchaotic state, the nozzle moves in the trajectory shown in FIG. 4, andthe water is injected to the dishes in more varied directions than themotion trajectories of the prior art in FIG. 2, so that the water can besprinkled uniformly.

Therefore, in the dish washer using two-link rotary nozzle, as comparedwith the prior art, water can be injected into every nook and cranny ofthe dishes, and the stains of dishes can be removed sufficiently.Besides, in the prior art, the nozzle trajectory was a specificcircumference, and to remove the stains, the manner of placing dishesmust be sufficiently considered, but in this embodiment, since thenozzle trajectory is always changing, a sufficient washing effect isobtained without particularly considering the dish placing manner.

As described herein, by using the rotary nozzle composed of plural linksin chaotic state, water can be injected to the dishes more uniformlythan in the prior art, and the washing efficiency of the dish washer canbe enhanced. In the embodiment, meanwhile, the two-link rotary nozzleexplained in the first embodiment is applied in the dish washer, but therotary nozzle apparatus described in the second to fourth embodimentsmay be also used. The rotary nozzle apparatus is applied in the dishwasher in this embodiment, but it may be also applied in other washersfor washing automobiles, semiconductor devices, and other objects, notlimited to the dishes, and a similar enhancement of washing efficiencyis expected. It can be also applied in the sprinkler, spraying machine,and other sprinkling machine for sprinkling liquid uniformly.

As a chaos applied equipment, an example of applying the chaostechnology into an air-conditioning equipment is described below. Astructure of a conventional air-conditioner is shown in FIG. 17. FIG. 17shows the cooling operation of the air-conditioner. In FIG. 17,reference numeral 101 denotes a compressor for compressing a refrigerantsuch as CFC, 102 is a four-way valve for changing over the refrigerantflowing direction depending on whether the operation is cooling orheating, 103 is an outdoor heat exchanger for exchanging the heat of therefrigerant with the heat of the ambient air (to release the heat of therefrigerant when cooling, and absorb the external heat when heating),104 is an outdoor fan for exchanging heat efficiently in the outdoorheat exchanger 103, 105 is an outdoor fan rotating speed changeoverdevice for changing over the rotating speed of the outdoor fan dependingon the operating state of the air-conditioner, 106 is a capillary tubecomposed of a fine copper pipe for applying a resistance and loweringthe refrigerant pressure by passing the refrigerant of high pressurecoming from the outdoor heat exchanger 103 through a narrow passage, 107is an indoor heat exchanger for exchanging the heat of the refrigerantwith the heat of the room air, 108 is an indoor fan for blowing cold air(in the case of cooling) into the room, 109 is a wind direction platefor adjusting the direction of the wind produced by the indoor fan 108,110 is a sensor for detecting the room temperature or humidity, 111 anindoor fan rotating speed changeover device for changing over therotating speed of the indoor fan 108 depending on the output signal ofthe sensor 110, and 112 is a compressor control device for controllingthe compressor 101 depending on the output of the sensor 110. In thediagram, the thick line indicates the pipe which is insulated in orderto circulate the refrigerant in.

In thus constituted air-conditioner, the cooling operation is effectedin the following procedure.

1. The refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 101, and therefrigerant is set in the state of high temperature and high pressure.

2. The refrigerant at high temperature and high pressure passes throughthe four-way valve 102, and is led into the outdoor heat exchanger 103.In the outdoor heat exchanger 103, the refrigerant is cooled nearly tothe ambient temperature, and the refrigerant is liquefied.

3. Consequently, the cooled liquid refrigerant at high pressure passesthrough the capillary tube 106, and the pressure of the refrigerant islowered.

4. The refrigerant lowed in pressure is evaporated in the indoor heatexchanger 107. The refrigerant deprives of heat of vaporization whenevaporated, and hence the air in the indoor heat exchanger 107 and itsvicinity is cooled below the dew point.

5. The cooled air is blown out from the indoor fan 108, circulates inthe room, and lowers the entire temperature of the room.

6. The refrigerant vaporized in the indoor heat exchanger 107 passesthrough the four-way valve 102, and is led into the compressor 101,thereby returning to step 1.

In this procedure, the cooling operation is realized. The heatingoperation is realized by varying the refrigerant flowing direction bythe four-way valve 102.

The compressor 101 and indoor fan 108 are controlled depending on theroom temperature and other conditions detected by the sensor 110. Morespecifically, the compressor control device 112 and indoor fan rotatingspeed changeover device 111 take in the output signal of the sensor 110,and respectively control the output of the compressor 101 and rotatingspeed of the indoor fan 108. As the indoor fan 108, a cylindrical fan iswidely employed, and it is controlled stepwise so as to produce a strongwind when a room temperature over a specified value is detected by thesensor 110, and a weak wind when less than the specified value.

However, only by stepwise change of the output of the indoor fan 108,when the room temperature is set in a certain range, the circulationroute of the air stream in the room becomes constant, and a certainspecific convection is formed. Therefore, in the room, cold wind (in thecase of cooling) is applied to some spots, but not applied to otherspots, and uneven temperature distribution of cooled points and uncooledpoints occurs. This embodiment is intended to solve such problem.

FIG. 18 shows a sixth embodiment of the invention, specifically showingthe constitution of the air-conditioner.

FIG. 18 shows the cooling operation of the air-conditioner, in whichreference numeral 101 denotes a compressor, 102 is a four-way valve, 103is an outdoor heat exchanger, 104 is an on outdoor fan, 103 is anoutdoor fan rotating speed changeover device, 106 is a capillary tube,107 is an indoor heat exchanger, 108 is an indoor fan, 109 is a winddirection plate, 110 is a sensor for detecting the temperature andhumidity in the room, and 112 is a compressor control device, and theseare same as in the constitution of the prior art.

What differs from the prior art is the provision of the chaos signalgenerating circuit 1 for generating a chaos signal, and the indoor fandrive device 2 for controlling the driving state of the indoor fan 108depending on the output signal of the chaos signal generating circuit 1and the output signal of the sensor 110.

The chaos signal is a complicated signal dominated by a relativelysimple rule. It, however, possesses a feature that is different from amere random signal. (See Nagashima, Baba: Introduction to Chaos—Analysisand Mathematic Principle of Phenomenon, Baifukan.)

As the principle of a system for generating a chaos signal, so-calledpie-kneading conversion (baker's transformation )is known. Thepie-kneading conversion is a conversion by repeating stretching andfolding as shown in FIG. 19. In FIG. 19, a pie dough is stretchd, andfolded down in two. By repeating this conversion of stretching andfoloding several times, the ingredients of pie dough are mixed well, anda uniform texture of pie dough is obtained.

The pie kneading conversion is excellent in the capability of making theobject uniform, in particular. For example, for a pie dough of 1 cm inthickness, when pie kneading conversion is applied ten times, a piedough in a thickness of about 10 microns is plaited in 1024 layers, andwhen the conversion is repeated 20 times, the layer of the dough isthinned to a thickness of molecular level, and the number of layersexceeds 1,000,000. Thus it is known that the pie kneading conversion iscapable of making the object sufficiently uniform.

As a typical example of function for generating a chaos signal, aconversion known as Bernoulli shift expressed below is known.$\begin{matrix}{{x\left( {n + 1} \right)} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{2{x(n)}} & {0 < {x(n)} \leqq 0.5} \\{{2{x(n)}} - 1} & {0.5 < {x(n)} \leqq 1}\end{matrix} \right.} & (5)\end{matrix}$

From formula (5), the relation of x(n) and x(n+1) of Bernoulli shift maybe expressed as shown in FIG. 20. The time series data generated fromthe Bernoulli shift calculated from formula (5) may be illustrated asshown in FIG. 21. Although the time series data is calculated by a verysimple numerical expression as shown in formula (5), it appears topresent an irregular behavior.

It is known there is a relation between Bernoulli shift and pie kneadingconversion. The data x(n) belonging to the region of 0<x(n)≦0.5 on theaxis of abscissas in FIG. 20 is magnified (two times) by the Bernoullishift, and is mapped into x(n+1) in 0<x(n+1)≦1.0. It is the same in theportion of 0.5<x(n)≦1.0. This conversion corresponds to the stretchingof the pie kneading conversion. Besides, as clear from the diagram, thedata of 0<x(n)≦0.5 and 0<x(n)≦1.0 are once magnified, and respectivelymapped copied into the same region of 0<x(n)<1.0. This operation meansfolding of pie kneading operation.

Therefore, it is known that Bernoulli shift is the conversion ofstretching and folding of pie kneading conversion.

Hence, the chaos signal that is deduced by repeating the conversion suchas Bernoulli shift a number of times possesses the pie kneadingconversion as its basic characteristic, and the capability of making theobject uniform is known. Incidentally, the function having the piekneading conversion as the principle is not limited to the Bernoullishift, but includes various functions including the logistic functionand tent mapping

This feature of making uniform is related with the basic characteristicsof chaos, such as dependence on initial value, instability oftrajectory, and consistency. (See T. S. Parker, L. O. Chua: PracticalNumerical Algorithm for Chaotic System, Springger-Verlag, 1989.) Theseproperties are mutually related, but in particular the instability oftrajectory is important. It means that the system incessantly changesthe state unstably, never repeating the same state change again, and theoutput behaves to fill up the output space or the state space densely.

By rotating the indoor fan 108 of the air-conditioner according to suchchaos signal, the indoor fan is set in various operating state, neverrepeating the same state series. Hence, the indoor air can be agitatedsufficiently.

In the conventional air-conditioner, the output of the indoor fan 108only changes stepwise in proportion to the temperature detected by thesensor 110. Therefore, when the room temperature comes in a certainrange, the circulation route of air stream in the room becomes constant,and cold air (in the case of cooling) is applied to some points and notapplied in other points in the room, and uneven temperature of cooledplace and uncooled place occurs. In the embodiment, having suchconstitution, the circulation route of the air stream can be alwayschanged, and as compared with the conventional indoor fan forcontrolling stepwise, the temperature distribution in the room can bemade more uniform.

The chaos signal generating circuit 1 in FIG. 18 is composed of anelectric circuit for generating a chaos signal. In a specificconstitution, for example, formula (5) may be calculated bymicrocomputer to produce a signal, or an electric circuit in FIG. 22 asmentioned in Chapter 2 of the publication “Chaos —Foundation andApplication of Chaos—” (ed. by Kazuyuki Aihara, Science Co.). The signalgenerated from the chaos signal generating circuit 1 may be an on/offsignal as shown in FIG. 23, a signal as time series signal with pulseintervals t1, t2, . . . as chaos, or a signal by intermittent chaos. Thepublication referenced above discloses the following:

The electric circuit shown in FIG. 22 generates a chaotic signal acrosscapacitor C₁. The electric circuit shown in FIG. 22 includes discretetransistors. An equivalent circuit is shown in FIG. 40 that uses anoperational amplifier instead of discrete transistors. The values of thevarious components in the circuit of FIG. 40 is given in the followingtable:

TABLE 1 Value of Elements in the Circuit shown in FIG. 40. Element Value4010 8.2 mH 4012 1.33 k ohms (variable) 4013 0.05 uF 4014 0.0055 uF 4015300 ohms 4016 UA741C 4017 300 ohms 4018 1.25 k ohms 4019 3.3 k ohms 40203.3 k ohms

Without assembling the circuit, the operation of the circuit may besimulated by using a personal computer. This circuit may be expressed inthe following differential equation: $\begin{matrix}{{C_{1}\quad \frac{{vc}_{1}}{t}} = {{G\left( {v_{c2} - v_{c1}} \right)} - {g\left( v_{c1} \right)}}} \\{{C_{2}\quad \frac{{vc}_{2}}{t}} = {{G\left( {v_{c1} - v_{c2}} \right)} + i_{L}}} \\{{L\quad \frac{i_{L}}{t}} = {- v_{c1}}}\end{matrix}$

Where: v_(c1), c_(c2), i_(L) are a voltage across C1, a voltage acrossC2, and a current of L, respectively,

G is the conductance of variable resistance R (G=1/R), and

g(v_(c1)) is the characteristic of a partial circuit N, which isexpressed in the following formula.${g\left( v_{c1} \right)} = {{m_{o}v_{c1}} + {\frac{1}{2}\left( {m_{1} - m_{0}} \right){{v_{c1} + B_{p}}}} + {\frac{1}{2}\quad \left( {m_{0} - m_{1}} \right){{v_{c1} - B_{p}}}}}$

This differential equation may be displayed on the CRT by calculatingthe solution curve about a proper initial value (for example,v_(c1)=v_(c2)=i_(L)=0.001) by employing the Runge-Kutta method.Parameter values are as follows: $\begin{matrix}{{\frac{1}{C_{1}} = 9},{\frac{1}{C_{2}} = 1},{\frac{1}{L} = 7},{G = {\frac{1}{R} = {\left. 0.1 \right.\sim 1.5}}},} \\{{m_{0} = {- 0.5}},{m_{1} = {- 0.8}},{B_{p} = 1}}\end{matrix}$

Of course, the values may be properly converted in scale.

One may take the voltage at both ends of C₁ of this circuit and connectit to a speaker. By changing G, a beep sound is heard at one place and ableah sound is heard at another place. To observe more closely, one mayinput the voltage across C₁ and the voltage across C₂ into anoscilloscope, and observe Lissajous figures. First, the value of G issufficiently small, and the value is increased gradually to observe thechanges.

When the value of G is small, no sound is heard from the speaker, andonly a raster as shown in FIG. 41(a) is observed on the oscilloscope.This is a stable balance point, and called a balance point attractor.

As the value of G is gradually increased, suddenly a beep sound isheard, and a circumference as shown in FIG. 41(b) appears on theoscilloscope. This is a stable periodic solution, and called a periodicattractor. Thus, as the parameter changes, the point attractor ischanged to the periodic attractor, and such phenomenon is called Hopfbifurcation of balance point.

As the value of G is further increased, the sound declines one octavelower, and a two-turn circumference appears in the oscilloscope as shownin FIG. 41(c). It is still a stable periodic solution, and by observingthe waveform of V_(c1) by changing the range of the oscilloscope, it isknown to have a period of about two times that of FIG. 41(b). When thevalue of G is increased still more (G=0.645), a four-turn periodicattractor is observed as shown in FIGS. 41(d) & (e). The waveform ofV_(c1) at this time has a period of about four times that of FIG. 41b.Such phenomenon of change of the periodic attractor to a periodicattractor having a period of two times is called a periodic multiplebifurcation. Generally, the periodic multiple bifurcation occurs in arow of 2 times, 4 times, 8 times, 16 times, and so forth, and convergeson the parameter value corresponding to 2. From the boundary of thisvalue, the system gets into a chaotic state. In an actual circuit,considering the fluctuations of the heat or the like, it may be a limitto allow up to eight periods (G=0.6456).

FIG. 41(f) shows a screen of the oscilloscope when getting into achaotic state. Perhaps “zzz” sound will be heard from the speaker. Thereare various types of “strange attractor” (SA), and FIG. 41(f) shows aso-called Rossler spiral attractor.

By further increasing the value of G, the spiral attractor continues forsome time while changing the thickness. At a certain point, suddenly,the sound changes to a clear beep tone and the screen shows a three-turnperiodic attractor (G=0.6525) as shown in FIG. 41(g). This attractorrepeats periodic multiple bifurcation of 6 turns and 12 turns, andbecomes SA again. By continuing to increase the value of G carefully, afive-turn period attractor is observed (G=0.657338) as shown in FIG.41(h), and it also becomes SA again after the periodic multiplebifurcation row. Generally, when the parameter is changed, a parameterregion including SA and a parameter region including periodic attractorappear alternately. The former is called the chaotic region, and thelatter is known as periodic attractor region or window.

When grown sufficiently in this manner, the attractor becomes as shownin FIG. 41(i), which is known as Rossler screw attractor (G=0.657). Fromthis state, when the value of G is further increased, the screwattractor suddenly becomes a double size attractor as shown in FIG.41(j). This system is an origin-symmetric system, and there are twoscrew attractors at symmetrical positions to the origin, and they aregrown together and combined into one. This newly developed attractor iscalled a double-scroll attractor. The phenomenon of development of thedouble-scroll attractor from the two screw attractors is called “birthof double scroll” and it is also a kind of bifurcation phenomena calledinterior crisis.

Moreover, by increasing the value of G, periodic attractors of variousforms are observed as shown in FIGS. 41(k)-(o). The periodic attractorsinclude both origin-symmetric and asymmetric profiles. It is impossibleto form strictly symmetrical circuits, and the circuit elements are notuniform, and exactly the same phenomena as shown may not be alwaysobserved, but several kinds of periodic attractor may be discovered.

By increasing the value of G furthermore, SA disappears at a certainpoint (G=0.8). Mathematically, the solutions diverge to infinity, but inan actual circuit, for example, V_(c1) is not infinite, but settles at aperiodic attractor at a region far outside from the observation regionknown so far. This extinguishing phenomenon of double-scroll attractoris called “death of double scroll” and it is a kind of bifurcationphenomenon called boundary crisis.

These are modes of bifurcation by changing G. In the circuit, it seemsdifficult to change the parameters other than G stably, but those usingthe simulation program are advised to change also other parameters.

TABLE 2 Oscilloscope Patterns FIG. Oscilloscope Patterns 41a (1) Balancepoint attractor 41b (2) 1 period 41c (3) 2 periods 41d (4) 4 periods 41e(5) Magnified view of 4 periods 41f (6) Spiral 41g (7) 3 periods 41h (8)5 periods 41I (9) Screw 41j (10) Double scroll 41k (11) Periodicattractor 41l (12) Periodic attractor 41m (13) Periodic attractor 41n(14) Periodic attractor 41o (15) Periodic attractor

The publication also provides a solution curve program list for N88BASIC.

The indoor fan drive device 2 in FIG. 18 is an apparatus for varying therotating speed of the indoor fan 108 according to the output of thechaos signal generating circuit 1 and the output of the sensor 110, andfor example, according to the formula below, the rotating speed of theindoor fan 108 is changed.

Rotating speed of the indoor fan=K1*(target temperature−temperaturedetected from sensor)+K2*output of chaos signal generating circuit

where K1 and K2 are constants. By performing such calculation in theindoor fan drive device 2, the chaos component can be added to themotion of the indoor fan, and the indoor fan can be set in variousstates of motion. As a result, cold air (or hot air) from theair-conditioner is distributed throughout the room, and the temperaturedistribution in the room can be set uniform same as in the pie kneadingconversion.

Thus, according to the embodiment, by rotating the indoor fan accordingto the chaos signal, the indoor temperature distribution can be keptuniform, and uniform air-conditioning without uneven temperature isrealized. Besides, by making the room temperature uniform, excessiveair-conditioning can be avoided, and the power consumption of the entireair-conditioner can be decreased, so that the energy can be saved.

In the embodiment, the rotating speed of the indoor fan 108 is changedby the chaos signal, but by using the wind direction plate drive device10 as shown in FIG. 24, it may be constituted to move the wind directionplate up and down, and the chaos signal generating circuit 1 may beconnected to the wind direction drive device 10 to vary the angle andangular velocity of the wind direction plate 109 by chaos signal, sothat the same effects may be obtained. In FIG. 24, there is only thewind direction plate 109 for varying the wind blowing direction in thevertical direction (up and down), but similar effects are obtained byusing a wind direction plate for further varying the wind blowingdirection in the horizontal direction (right and left) to change theangle or angular velocity of the wind direction plate depending on theoutput of the chaos signal generating circuit 1.

In addition, same effects are obtained by connecting the chaos signalgenerating circuit 1 to the compressor control device 112 as shown inFIG. 25, and varying the output of the compressor 101 according to theoutput of the chaos signal generating circuit 1.

The embodiment relates to an example of air-conditioner, but it holdstrue in other air-conditioning devices such as oil fan heater, ceramicheater, and electric stove, and the room temperature can be set uniformby controlling the indoor fan or wind direction plate according to thechaos signal.

FIG. 26 is a structural diagram of an air-conditioning equipment in aseventh embodiment of the invention, specifically showing theconstitution of an air-conditioner.

FIG. 26 shows the cooling operation of the air-conditioner, in whichreference numeral 101 denotes a compressor, 102 is a four-way valve, 103is an outdoor heat exchanger, 104 is an outdoor fan, 105 is an outdoorfan rotating speed changeover device, 106 is a capillary tube, 107 is anindoor heat exchanger, 108 is an indoor fan, 109 is a wind directionplate, 112 is a compressor control device, 1 is a chaos signalgenerating circuit, and 111 is an indoor fan rotating speed changeoverdevice, and so far these are same as in the constitution of the sixthembodiment.

What differs from the sixth embodiment is the provision of pyroelectricinfrared rays array detector for detecting the temperature distributionin the room as sensor 110′, a regular signal generating circuit 20 forgenerating a regular signal depending on the output of the sensor 110′,and a signal changeover circuit 21 for changing over the output of thechaos signal generating circuit 1 and output of the regular signalgenerating circuit 20.

As mentioned in the sixth embodiment, by driving the indoor fan 108 orwind direction plate 109 according to the chaos signal, the indoortemperature distribution may be made uniform.

In the actual air-conditioner, however, it may be insufficient tocontrol to keep the temperature distribution uniform. For example, whenstarting up the air-conditioner, when the target temperature and thetemperature detected by the sensor are widely apart, it takes time tocool (in the case of cooling) the entire room uniformly, the user mayfeel more comfortable when the cold air is blown in an occupiedposition, rather than by starting with uniform air-conditioning inconsideration of the entire room.

To cope with such case, in this embodiment, the signal from the chaossignal generating circuit 1 and the signal from the regular signalgenerating circuit 20 are changed over by the signal changeover circuit21 and fed into the wind direction plate drive device 10, so that thewind direction plate 109 is controlled by changing over in the chaoticstate or regular state. A practical operation of the embodiment isdescribed below.

The sensor 110′ is composed of a pyroelectric array detector and itssignal processing circuit, and by detecting the indoor temperaturedistribution, an approximate position of a person present in the room(the higher temperature region), and the average temperature in the roomcan be detected (Japanese Patent Application No. 4-254302).

The signal changeover circuit 21 selects either the chaos signal or theregular signal according to the average temperature signal produced fromthe sensor 110′ and the target temperature of the air-conditioner. Morespecifically, the regular signal is selected when the difference betweenthe target temperature of the air-conditioner and the actual temperaturedetected by the sensor 110′ is greater than a specific value, and thechaos signal is selected when the difference is smaller than thespecific value.

The regular signal generating circuit 20 produces a signal for movingthe wind direction plate 109 regularly up and down, and right and left,around the direction of the higher temperature distribution (in the caseof cooling) according to the signal from the sensor 110 in order to aimthe wind to the place likely occupied by person. By this signal, spotair-conditioning around the occupied place can be realized.

The chaos signal generating circuit 1 is same as in the sixthembodiment.

In such constitution, if there is any difference between the targettemperature and the present temperature as in starting time of theair-conditioner, spot air-conditioning is applied to the region likelyto be occupied by person as detected by the sensor 110′, and when theaverage temperature of the room is close to the target temperature, thewind direction plate 109 is driven in chaotic state. Hence, morecomfortable air-conditioning is realized.

The wind direction plate 109 in FIG. 26 is for rotating in the vertical(up-down) direction only, but it may be rotated in the horizontal(right-left) direction.

FIG. 27 is a structural diagram of an air-conditioning equipment in aneighth embodiment of the invention, specifically showing theconstitution of an air-conditioner.

FIG. 27 shows the cooling operation of the air-conditioner, in whichreference numeral 101 denotes a compressor, 102 is a four-way valve, 103is an outdoor heat exchanger, 104 is an outdoor fan, 105 is an outdoorfan rotating speed changeover device, 106 is a capillary tube, 107 is anindoor heat exchanger, 108 is an indoor fan, 109 is a wind directionplate, 110 is a sensor for detecting the indoor temperature or humidity,and 112 is a compressor control device, and so far they are same as inthe constitution of the prior art.

What differs from the prior art is that a fractal dimension calculatingcircuit 31 for determining the fractal dimension for the output signalof the sensor 110 is provided.

The fractal dimension is an extended concept of the ordinary dimension,and a non-integer dimension exists. The fractal dimension indicates theself-similarity or complexity of the input time series signal, and whenthe degree of freedom of the object system is high and the behavior iscomplicated, the value is large, or in the case of a simple and regularsignal, to the contrary, the value is small. It is known, incidentally,that the fractal dimension to the signal in chaotic state is anon-integer.

By thus calculating the fractal dimension to the time series signalproduced from the sensor 110, the information about the motion or entryor departure of the people in the room where the air-conditioner isinstalled can be obtained.

For example, in a room where people always enter or leave irregularly,the value of the fractal dimension to the output signal of thetemperature sensor is large, whereas in the room where people enter andleave relatively less and regularly, and the activity of the people islow, the value of the fractal dimension is small.

Therefore, by calculating the fractal dimension relatively to the outputsignal of the sensor 110, a comprehensive index showing the frequency ofpeople entering or leaving the room where the air-conditioner isinstalled or changes of the activity of people can be obtained.

As the fractal dimension, hitherto, information dimension, capacitydimension, correlation dimension, and others have been proposed. (See T.S. Parker, L. O. Chua: Practical Numerical Algorithm for Chaotic System,Springer-Verlag, 1989.) In this embodiment, the fractal dimensioncalculating circuit 31 is explained by referring to correlationdimension.

The correlation dimension was proposed by Gassberger and Procassia in1983, and is determined by using the correlation integration in thefollowing formula. $\begin{matrix}{{C(r)} = {\frac{1}{N*N}{\sum\limits_{i,j}^{N}\quad {H\left( {r - {{{X(i)} - {X(j)}}}} \right)}}}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

where H denotes the Heaviside function, and X(i) is a time seriesvector, which is defined below, and N denotes the number of time seriesvectors.

X(i)=(x(i), x(i+T), x(i+2T), . . . , x(i+(d−1)T))  (7)

where x(i) is the output of the sensor 110 at time i, d denotes thedimension of the time series vector, T is the time delay, and d, t areset at proper values.

When the correlation integration C(r) possesses the following relation,D is called the correlation dimension.

log C(r)=D log r+Q  (8)

where Q is a constant. Therefore, to determine the correlationdimension, the proportional constant D is determined by applying theleast square method to the data of log C(r) and log r. The determined Dis an approximate value of the correlation dimension.

The fractal dimension calculating circuit 31 is composed ofmicrocomputer, and the output signals from the sensor 110 are alwaysstored in a specific quantity in time series in the memory in themicrocomputer, and the calculation of formula (6) and the least squarecalculation on log C(r) and log r are performed, and the correlationdimension D is determined.

The fractal dimension calculated by the fractal dimension calculatingcircuit 31 is entered in the indoor fan drive device 2 and compressordrive device 112. As mentioned above, when a fractal dimension of highvalue is obtained, the room is frequented by many people and is large inthe change of activity of people, and therefore the indoor fan drivedevice 2 powerfully drives the indoor fan 108, and the compressorcontrol circuit 112 more frequently drives the compressor 101. To thecontrary, when the fractal dimension is small, the indoor fan 108 andcompressor 101 are driven weakly.

Thus, according to the embodiment, the fractal dimension is determinedfor the time series signal produced from the sensor 110 by using thefractal dimension calculating circuit 31 and the indoor fan 108 andcompressor 101 are controlled according to the value, so that theintensity of cooling and heating, and volume of wind blow can be variedminutely.

In the embodiment, the correlation dimension is employed as thecalculating method of fractal dimension in the fractal dimensioncalculating circuit 31, but calculating methods of other dimensions suchas information dimension and capacity dimension may be similarlyemployed. In the embodiment, moreover, the wind direction plate isfixed, but it may be movable as in the sixth embodiment, so as to bevariable depending on the value of the fractal dimension calculatingcircuit 31.

FIG. 28 is a structural diagram of an air-conditioning equipment in aninth embodiment of the invention, specifically showing a constitutionof a refrigerator. The refrigerator, like the air-conditioners mentionedabove, is designed to cool the food by generating a cold air bycirculating a compressed refrigerant through a heat exchanger or acapillary tube.

Reference numeral 51 in FIG. 28 denotes a compressor for compressingrefrigerant such as CFC, 52 is a condenser which is a heat exchanger forreleasing the heat of the refrigerant to outside, 53 is a capillary tubecomposed of a fine copper pipe for passing the high pressure refrigerantsupplied from the condenser 52 through a narrow passage to applypressure so as to lower the pressure of the refrigerant, 54 is anevaporator which is a heat exchanger for replacing the heat of therefrigerant with the heat in the freezing compartment, 55 is a freezingcompartment fan for agitating the cold air in the freezing compartment,56 is a freezing compartment sensor for detecting the temperature in thefreezing compartment, 57 is a cold air inflow adjusting device forcontrolling the flow rate of the cold air generated in the evaporator 54flowing out from the freezing compartment into the refrigerator, 58 is arefrigerating compartment fan for agitating the cold air in therefrigerating compartment, 59 is a refrigerating compartment sensor fordetecting the temperature in the refrigerating compartment, 60 is acompressor control circuit for controlling the output of the compressor51 according to the detection results of the freezing compartment sensor56 and refrigerating compartment sensor 59, 61 is a fan drive circuitfor controlling the operation of the freezing compartment fan 55 andrefrigerating compartment fan 58, 62 is an inflow control circuit forcontrolling the inflow of the cold air by sending a signal to the coldair inflow adjusting device 57, and 1 is a chaos signal generatingcircuit same as mentioned in the foregoing embodiments. The thick linein the diagram indicates the pipe through which the refrigerant passes.

In thus constituted refrigerator, the food is refrigerated and frozen inthe following procedure.

1. The refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 51, and therefrigerant is set in high temperature, high pressure state.

2. The refrigerant at high temperature, high pressure is sent into thecondenser 52 to release heat, and the refrigerant is liquefied.

3. The cooled high pressure liquid refrigerant is passed into thecapillary tube 53, and the pressure of the refrigerant is lowered.

4. The refrigerant lowered in pressure is evaporated in the evaporator54. The refrigerant, when being evaporated, deprives of heat ofvaporization, and the air in the evaporator 54 and its vicinity iscooled below the dew point.

5. The cooled air circulates in the freezing compartment by the freezingcompartment fan 55, and is sent into the refrigerating compartment.However, the volume of cold air sent into the refrigerating compartmentis controlled by the cold air inflow adjusting device 57. In therefrigerating compartment, the refrigerant compartment fan 58 isoperated in order to diffuse the cold air in the compartmentsufficiently.

6. The refrigerant vaporized in the evaporator 54 is led into thecompressor 51, and the operation goes back to step 1.

The food can be cooled in this procedure.

In the conventional refrigerator, the fan rotation was always constant,and the cold air circulates only a same route, and an uneven temperaturedistribution occurred in the freezing compartment and refrigeratingcompartment, and excessively cooled area and uncooled area coexisted inthe same compartment.

To solve this problem of uneven temperature, the invention realizesuniform freezing and refrigerating without uneven temperaturedistribution by varying the rotation of the freezing compartment fan 55and refrigerating compartment fan 58 by chaos signal.

As explained in the sixth embodiment, the chaos signal has a copy imagelike pie kneading conversion as basic characteristic, and ischaracterized by trajectory instability, never taking the same stateagain. Therefore, by varying the rotation of the freezing compartmentfan 55 and refrigerating compartment fan 58 by chaos signal, the coldair circulation route in the freezing and refrigerating compartments canbe always changed. In this case, the change of cold air circulationroute is not regular, but conforms to the chaos signal having trajectoryinstability, so that the circulation route of cold air appears to changerandomly.

By such chaotic change of circulation route of the cold air,preservation of food at uniform temperature may be sufficientlyrealized.

As a specific constitution, according to the signal generated by thechaos signal generating circuit 1, the fan driving circuit 61 controlsthe freezing compartment fan 55 and refrigerating compartment fan 58, sothat the flow of cold air is changed chaotically. The chaos signalgenerating circuit 1 is constituted same as in the sixth embodiment, ormay be composed of an electric circuit as shown in FIG. 22, or a signalmay be generated by a method of calculating a function such as Bernoullishift by using a microcomputer.

Thus, according to the embodiment, using the chaos signal generatingcircuit 1, by controlling the freezing compartment fan 55 andrefrigerating compartment fan 58 according to the signal, thecirculation route of cold air in the freezing and refrigeratingcompartments can be changed variously, and the temperature distributionin the compartments may be made uniform. Besides, by chaotic drive, thetemperature in the freezing compartment and refrigerating compartment isuniform, and generation of excessive cold air is not necessary, so thatthe power consumption of the refrigerator may be saved more than before.

In the embodiment, only the freezing compartment fan 55 andrefrigerating compartment fan 58 are driven by chaos signal, but theoperation of the cold air inflow adjusting device 56 and compressor 51may be controlled according to the chaotic signal, too. In such a case,preservation of food at more uniform temperature than in the embodimentis realized. As chaos signal, an on/off signal as shown in FIG. 23having a chaotic pulse width may be also used.

FIG. 29 is a structural diagram of an air-conditioning equipment in atenth embodiment of the invention, specifically showing the constitutionof a refrigerator.

In FIG. 29, reference numeral 51 is a compressor, 52 is a condenser, 53is a capillary tube, 54 is an evaporator, 55 is a freezing compartmentfan, and 56 is a freezing compartment sensor. So far, they are same asin the constitution in the ninth embodiment. Besides, reference numeral1 denotes a chaos signal generating circuit, and 2 is a regular signalgenerating circuit, which are same as those shown in the foregoingembodiments. In this embodiment, what differs from the constitution ofthe ninth embodiment is that a refrigerating compartment fan 71, a coldair inflow adjusting device 72, and a refrigerating compartment sensor73 are each provided in a plurality and distributed and disposed on eachrack in the refrigerating compartment, and that the constitution furthercomprises a multi-fractal dimension calculating circuit 76 forcalculating the individual fractal dimensions from the outputs of thefreezing compartment sensor 58 and refrigerating compartment sensors73-1 to 73-4, a multi-fan driving circuit 74 for controlling thefreezing compartment fan 55 and refrigerating compartment fans 71-1 to71-4 according to the signals from the freezing compartment sensor 55,refrigerating compartment sensor 73, and multi-fractal dimensioncalculating circuit 76, depending on the output of either the chaossignal generating circuit 1 or regular signal generating circuit 20, anda multi-inflow control circuit 75 for controlling the cold air inflowadjusting devices 72-1 to 72-4 according to the signals from thefreezing compartment sensor 55, refrigerating compartment sensor 73, andmulti-fractal dimension calculating circuit 76, depending on the outputof either the chaos signal generating circuit 1 or regular signalgenerating circuit 20.

In the foregoing ninth embodiment, it is controlled with the purpose ofkeeping uniform the temperature in the refrigerator. In therefrigerator, maintenance of uniform temperature is most important, butcontrol to keep uniform temperature only involves certain problems.

For example, in a sufficiently uniformly cooled refrigeratingcompartment, suppose a warm food is put on one rack. In this case, thefan in the refrigerating compartment operates to make uniform thetemperature of the entire refrigerating compartment, and the temperaturepropagation in the room is promoted, and the temperature goes on risingaround the warm food, and as the time passes, the temperature risespreads around the whole compartment, and then this temperature rise isdetected by the sensor, and the cold air from the freezing compartmentis increased, and the temperature drops on the whole, thereby returningto the state before putting in the warm food.

Therefore, ever time a new food is put in, the temperature of the entirerefrigerating compartment varies, which may adversely affect the foodpreservation state.

To solve this problem, in this embodiment, on each rack in therefrigerating compartment, the refrigerating compartment sensor 73, coldair inflow adjusting device 72, and refrigerating compartment fan 71 areprovided, and the temperature is always detected on each rack, and therack higher in temperature than the other racks is exposed to cold airby regularly operating the refrigerating compartment fan 71, so that theparticular rack is cooled quickly. When the temperature is almost equalon each rack, each refrigerating compartment fan is driven by chaossignal, so that the compartment temperature may be kept uniform.

As a specific operation, the temperature on each rack is detected by therefrigerating compartment sensors 73-1 to 73-4, and the information isput in the multi-fractal dimension calculating circuit 76. Themulti-fractal dimension calculating circuit 76 is composed same as thefractal dimension calculating circuit 31 explained in the eighthembodiment, and the different point is only that plural input signalsare used. By this multi-fractal dimension calculating circuit 76, thefractal dimension is calculated from the data produced from therefrigerating compartment sensors 73. By this fractal dimension, it isknown which rack is large in temperature change and high in frequency oftemperature change. Therefore, by calculating the fractal dimension,specifically, the feature amounts showing the information about thefrequency or volume of putting in and taking out the food on each rack.

The fractal dimension of temperature data on each rack obtained by themulti-fractal dimension calculating circuit 76, and the presenttemperature data on each rack are entered in the multi-inflow controlcircuit 75 and multi-fan driving circuit 74, thereby driving andcontrolling the cold air inflow adjusting circuits 72-1 to 72-4 andrefrigerating compartment fans 73-1 to 73-4 installed on each rack.

As a basic control, the rack presently high in temperature or the rackhigh in fractal dimension is filled with more cold air by means of thecold air inflow adjusting device 72. Moreover, the refrigeratingcompartment fan 71 on that rack is driven by the regular signalgenerating circuit 20, and the fan is controlled so that cold air may bedirectly applied to the warm food. By this operation, spot cooling ofcooling a particular food quickly and locally is realized.

On the other hand, the rack close to the target temperature or the racksmall in fractal dimension is exposed to less cold air flow, and therefrigerating compartment fan 71 is operated according to the output ofthe chaos signal generating circuit 1, thereby controlling to have auniform temperature distribution in the entire refrigeratingcompartment. These practical controls of fans and cold air inflowadjusting device are effected by the multi-fan driving circuit 74 andmulti-inflow control circuit 75.

In this way, the refrigerating compartment fans 71-1 to 71-4, cold airinflow adjusting devices 72-1 to 72-4, and refrigerating compartmentsensors 73-1 to 73-4 are provided on the racks of the refrigeratingcompartment, and by changing over the driving state of the refrigeratingcompartment fans 71-1 to 71-4 between chaotic state and regular state,the control for making uniform the temperature in the entirerefrigerating compartment and the control for spot cooling of each rackcan be changed over. For changeover of the controls, not only thepresent temperature detected from the outputs of the refrigeratingcompartment sensors 73-1 to 73-4, but also the fractal dimensionscalculated from the sensor outputs are used. Therefore, control inconsideration of volume of food putting in and taking out can be alsorealized.

Similar effects are obtained by changing over the driving state of thecold air inflow adjusting devices 72-1 to 72-4 between chaotic state andregular state, same as in the refrigerating compartment fans 71-1 to71-4.

FIG. 30 is a structural diagram of an air-conditioning equipment in aneleventh embodiment of the invention, specifically showing theconstitution of an electric fan.

In FIG. 30, reference numeral 80 is a fan composed of propeller andmotor, and 81 is a fan driving circuit for feeding an electric power todrive the fan and controlling the rotating speed of the fan . Referencenumeral 1 is a chaos signal generating circuit same as in theconstitution in FIG. 6.

In this embodiment, same as in the sixth embodiment, a uniformair-conditioning is realized by chaotically changing the rotating speedof the fan 80 by using the chaos signal generating circuit 1.

As explained also in the sixth embodiment, the chaos signal has amapping like pie kneading conversion as basic characteristic, and ischaracterized by trajectory instability, never repeating the same statechange again. Therefore, by varying the output of the fan 85 accordingto the chaos signal, the wind intensity and wind circulation route inthe room can be always changed, so that a uniform air-conditioning isrealized.

Thus, according to the embodiment, using the chaos signal generatingcircuit 1, by controlling the fan 80 of the electric fan according tothe signal, the wind intensity of the fan and the circulation route ofthe wind can be changed variously, and the temperature distribution inthe room can be made uniform. In the embodiment, only the rotation ofthe fan 80 is changed by chaos signal, but similar effects are obtainedby varying the swing rotation of the electric fan by chaos signal.

FIG. 31 is a structural diagram of an air-conditioning equipment in atwelfth embodiment of the invention, specifically showing theconstitution of an electric heated table.

In FIG. 31, reference numeral 82 is a table, 83 is a heater built in theback of the table, 84 is a heater drive unit for feeding electric powernecessary for heat generation to the heater 83 and controlling the h eatgeneration output of the heater 83, 85 is a fan for agitating the air inthe electric heated table, 86 is a fan drive unit for driving andcontrolling the fan 85, 87 is a table top plate, and 88 is a blanket.Reference numeral 1 is a chaos signal generating circuit, same as in theconstitution in the sixth embodiment.

In this embodiment, same as in the sixth embodiment, the heat generationoutput of the heater 83 and the air flow rate of the fan 85 arechaotically changed by using the chaos signal generating circuit 1.Thus, a uniform heating is realized. As explained also in the sixthembodiment, the chaos signal has a mapping like pie kneading conversionas basic characteristic, and is characterized by trajectory instability,never repeating the same state change again. Therefore, by varying theoutput of the heater 83 and output of the fan 83 according to the chaossignal, the temperature, intensity of hot air, and circulation route ofhot air in the electric heated table are always changed, so that auniform heating is realized.

Thus, according to the embodiment, using the chaos signal generatingcircuit 1, by controlling the heater 82 and fan 85 of the electricheated table according to the signal, the intensity and circulationroute of hot air in the electric heated table may be changed variously,so that the temperature distribution in the electric heated table may bemade uniform.

As the signal of chaos signal generating circuit 1, incidentally, anon/off signal as shown in FIG. 23 may be used, and its pulse width maybe varied chaotically, or an intermittent chaos signal may be used. As aheating apparatus using similar heater, an electronic carpet as shown inFIG. 32 is known, and the principle is the same. In FIG. 32, referencenumeral 90 denotes a heater, 91 is a carpet heated by the heater, 92 isa heater drive unit for feeding electric power necessary for heatgeneration to the heater 90, and controlling the heat generation output,and 1 is a chaos signal generating circuit same as in the sixthembodiment. By controlling the heat generation output of the heater 90according to the chaos signal produced from the chaos signal generatingcircuit 1, heating without uneven temperature profile is realized sameas in the electric heated table. The same effect is obtained in otherheating devices using the heater, including the oil fan heater, ceramicfan heater, electric stove, and electric blanket, and uniform heating isrealized by controlling the heater chaotically.

FIG. 33 is a structural diagram of a thirteenth embodiment of theinvention, specifically showing the constitution of a microwave oven.

In FIG. 33, reference numeral 9101 denotes a magnetron for generatingmicrowaves, 9102 is a magnetron driving circuit composed of a powersource circuit and a control circuit for driving the magnetron 9101,9103 is a waveguide for guiding the microwaves generated by themagnetron 9101 into a heating compartment in which the food iscontained, 9104 is a table for putting the food on, and 9106 is astirrer fan for agitating the microwaves coming out from the waveguide9103, and these are so far same as those in the existing microwave oven.What differs from the prior is the provision of a chaos signalgenerating circuit 1 for generating a chaos signal, and a stirrer fandrive unit 2 for controlling the rotation of the stirrer fan 9106according to the output of the chaos signal generating circuit 1.

As explained also in the sixth embodiment, the chaos signal has amapping like pie kneading conversion as basic characteristic, and ischaracterized by trajectory instability, never repeating the same statechange again. In proportion to such chaos signal, the stirrer fan 9106of the microwave oven is rotated, and the stirrer fan 9106 operates invarious modes, so that the microwaves in the compartment can be agitatedsufficiently. Therefore, as compared with the conventional microwaveoven having a stirrer fan rotating at a specific speed, a more uniformdistribution of electric field in the compartment is obtained.

The chaos signal generating circuit 1 in FIG. 33 is composed of anelectric circuit for generating a chaos signal. In specificconstitution, for example, the signal may be produced by calculatingformula (5) by microcomputer, or an electric circuit as in FIG. 22 maybe used. As the chaos signal to be generated from the chaos signalgenerating circuit 1, an on/off signal as shown in FIG. 23 may be used,and its pulse intervals t1, t2, . . . may be time series signals ofchaos.

The stirrer fan drive unit 2 in FIG. 33 is a device for varying therotating speed of the stirrer fan in proportion to the output of thechaos signal generating circuit 1. By putting the motion of the stirrerfan in chaotic state by the stirrer fan drive unit 2, the stirrer fancan be put in various operating states. As a result, the microwaves inthe compartment may be sufficiently agitated, and the distribution ofelectric field in the compartment may be made uniform, same as in thepie kneading conversion.

Thus, according to the embodiment, the rotating speed of the stirrer fan9106 is varied by the chaos signal, and same effects are obtained byconnecting the chaos signal generating circuit 1 to the table drive unit3 for rotating the table 9104 as shown in FIG. 34, and changing therotating speed or rotational angle of the table 9104 by the chaossignal. Besides, as shown in FIG. 35, by connecting the magnetrondriving circuit 9102 to the chaos signal generating circuit 1, theintensity of the produced microwaves may be varied according to thechaos signal.

The thirteenth embodiment relates to the microwave oven, but sameeffects are obtained in an oven-toaster as shown in FIG. 36. FIG. 36shows an oven-toaster, in which reference numeral 921 denotes an upperheater for heating the bread in the heating compartment from above, 922is a lower heater for heating the bread from beneath, 923 is a powersource circuit for feeding electric power to the upper heater 921 andlower heater 922, 924 is an output control circuit for controlling theoutput of the power source circuit 923, and 1 is a chaos signalgenerating circuit same as in the foregoing embodiments. In thisexample, according to the chaos signal generated from the chaos signalgenerating circuit 1, the output control circuit 924 controls the outputof the power source circuit 923, and the outputs of the two heaters arechanged chaotically. Hence, same as in the above embodiment, uniformheating is realized.

FIG. 37 is a structural diagram of a heating apparatus in a fourteenthembodiment of the invention, specifically showing the constitution of arice cooker.

In FIG. 37, reference numeral 931 is an inner bowl for holding rice andwater, 932 is a lid for enclosing the inner bowl, 933 is a heater forheating the inner bowl 931, 934 is a power source circuit for feedingelectric power necessary for heat generation to the heater 933, 935 isan output control circuit for controlling the output of the power sourcecircuit 934 for changing the heating output, and 1 is a chaos signalgenerating circuit for generating a chaos signal same as used in thesixth embodiment.

The rice cooker is intended to cook rice by operating the rice in theinner bowl in four sequentially steps of process consisting of waterabsorption, boiling, maintenance of boiling, and steaming. Accordingly,the heater 933 disposed around the inner bowl (lower, side or topsurface) heats the rice in the inner bowl with various outputs dependingon the steps of the process.

Recently, a new rice cooker is developed, in which several temperaturesensors are provided on the inner circumference or outer circumferenceof the inner bowl, and the volume of rice is judged on the basis of thetemperature information obtained from the sensors, and the heatingoutput of the heater in each step of process is determined from theobtained volume.

Once the heating output is determined, however, the heating output ateach step of process is fixed, and the heater output does not change inthe process.

In the inner bowl, as heated by the heater 933, water (hot water)circulates among rice grains. The direction of circulation is mainlyvertical, and the water circulation is particularly violent in theprocess of boiling and maintenance of boiling. By such circulation ofwater, the rice temperature in the inner bowl is kept uniform.

Conventionally, however, since the output of the heater 933 is keptconstant at each step of the process, once the circulation route ofwater (hot water) is determined depending on the physical configurationof rice grains and heater position, the route is not changed, and therice close to the route is overcooked, and the rice remote from theroute is undercooked, and uneven cooking occurs.

This phenomenon is particularly notable at the steps of boiling andmaintenance of boiling in which the heating output is large and watercirculation is violent, and a significant uneven cooking is caused in arice cooker with inappropriate design of heater position or shape.

To solve the problem of uneven cooking, in the invention, the output ofthe heater 933 is changed by chaos signal, and uniform cooking withoutuneven heating is realized.

As explained also in the sixth embodiment, the chaos signal has amapping like pie kneading conversion as basic characteristic, and ischaracterized by trajectory instability, never repeating the same statechange again. Therefore, by changing the output of the heater 933according to the chaos signal, the water circulation route in the innerbowl 931 may always changed. Besides, the change of water (hot water)circulation route is not regular, but conforms to the chaos signalhaving trajectory instability. Hence, the water circulation routeappears to change variously at random.

By such chaotic change of water circulation route, a sufficientlyuniform rice cooking is realized.

As a practical constitution, the output control circuit 935 controls thepower source circuit 934 according to the signal generated by the chaossignal generating circuit 1, and the heater output is changedchaotically. The chaos signal generating circuit 1 is constituted sameas in the sixth embodiment, and an electric circuit as shown in FIG. 22may be used, or a signal may be generated by a method of calculating afunction such as Bernoulli shift by using a microcomputer or the like.

Thus, according to the embodiment, using the chaos signal generatingcircuit 1, by controlling the heater 933 of the rice cooker according tothe signal, the water circulation route in the inner bowl may be changedvariously, and the rice temperature distribution may be made uniform.Hence uniform rice cooking without uneven heating is realized.

Incidentally a rice cooker by making use of induction heat of inner bowlby using a magnetic force generating coil as heater 933 is developed. Insuch rice cooker, too, by changing the heating output chaotically byusing the chaos signal generating circuit 1, uniform cooking withoutuneven heating as in this embodiment may be realized.

FIG. 38 is a structural diagram of a heating apparatus in a fifteenthembodiment of the invention, specifically showing the constitution of ahot plate.

In FIG. 38, reference numeral 941 is a metal plate for putting the foodon, 942 is a heater for heating the metal plate 941, 943 is a powersource circuit for feeding electric power necessary for generating heatto the heater 942, 944 is an output control circuit for controlling theoutput of the power source circuit 943 for changing the heat generationoutput of the heater 942, and 1 is a chaos signal generating circuit forgenerating a chaos signal same as in the sixth embodiment.

On the lower side of the metal plate 941, plural heaters 942 aredisposed as shown in the diagram, and the metal plate 941 is heated asthe electric power is supplied to each heater 942 through the powersource circuit 943.

In an ordinary hot plate, the heaters 942 are often disposed at severalpositions of the metal plate as shown in the diagram, never covering theentire metal plate surface. Therefore, a heat distribution occurs on themetal plate.

In this embodiment, same as in the sixth embodiment, by chaoticallychanging the heating output of the heater by using the chaos signalgenerating circuit 1, uniform heating is realized.

As explained also in the sixth embodiment, the chaos signal has amapping like pie kneading conversion as basic characteristic, and ischaracterized by trajectory instability, never repeating the same statechange again. Therefore, by changing the output of the heater 942according to the chaos signal, the temperature of the parts of the metalplate 941 and the heat propagation speed are always changed, so that auniform heating is realized.

Thus, according to the embodiment, using the chaos signal generatingcircuit 1, by controlling the heater 942 of the hot plate according tothe signal, the heat distribution on the metal plate may be changedvariously, and the temperature distribution on the metal plate madeuniform. Hence, cooking without uneven heating is realized.

As the signal of the chaos signal generating circuit 1, an on/off signalas shown in FIG. 23 may be used, and the pulse width may be variedchaotically. In this case, too, the heater is on/off controlled, but thetemperature of the parts of the metal plate changes smoothly because ofthe heat capacity of the metal plate. Accordingly, if the signal as inFIG. 23 is used, uniform heating is possible.

FIG. 39 is a structural diagram of a heating apparatus in a sixteenthembodiment of the invention, specifically showing the constitution of anelectromagnetic cooking apparatus.

In FIG. 39, reference numeral 950 is a magnetic force generating coil,951 is a high frequency current generating circuit composed of a powersource circuit for producing a high frequency current to be supplied tothe magnetic force generating coil 950, and 952 is an output controlcircuit for controlling the output of the high frequency currentproduced from the high frequency current generating circuit 951.Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 39 is a chaos signal generating circuit,which is same as in the sixth embodiment.

The electromagnetic cooking apparatus is a heating device for cooking bypassing an eddy current in a pan by an alternating magnetic forcegenerated by the magnetic force generating coil 950, and making use ofthe heat generation (induction heating) by the metal resistance of thepan.

Similar to the hot plate in the fifteenth embodiment, the problem of theelectromagnetic cooking apparatus is that the heating is notsufficiently uniform. In the electromagnetic cooking apparatus, sincethe pan itself is heated, the magnitude and distribution of the eddycurrent induced on the pan vary significantly depending on the panshape, material and thickness, in particular, the contact state betweenthe pan bottom and the main body. Hence, uneven cooking occurred in thistype of electromagnetic cooking apparatus.

In this embodiment, same as in the foregoing embodiments, the output ofthe high frequency current generating circuit 951 is changed chaoticallyby using the chaos signal generating circuit 1, so that uniform heatingand cooking may be realized. As explained also in the sixth embodiment,the chaos signal has a mapping like pie kneading conversion as basiccharacteristic, and is characterized by trajectory instability, neverrepeating the same state change again. Therefore, by varying the outputof the high frequency current generating circuit 951 according to thechaos signal, the magnitude of the eddy current in the parts of the pan,and the heat conduction state are always changed, so that a uniformheating is enabled.

Thus, according to the embodiment, using the chaos signal generatingcircuit 1, by controlling the high frequency current generating circuit951 according to the signal, the magnitude of the eddy current inducedin the pan and the heat conduction state can be variously changed, andhence the temperature distribution in the pan may be made uniform. As aresult, uniform cooking without uneven heating is realized.

As the signal of the chaos signal generating circuit 1, incidentally,the on/off signal as shown in FIG. 6 may be used, and the same effectsare obtained by changing the its pulse width chaotically.

According to the invention, as described herein, by putting the objectmachine in chaotic state, uniform washing, air-conditioning, heating orthe like may be realized.

What is claimed is:
 1. A rice cooker comprising: a bowl foraccommodating rice and water, a heater disposed outside of the bowl forheating the bowl, a power source circuit for supplying a output power tothe heater, a chaos signal generating circuit for generating adeterministic chaos signal, and an control circuit coupled between thechaos signal generating circuit and the power source circuit for varyingthe output power of the power source circuit based on the deterministicchaos signal, wherein the deterministic chaos signal is selected forsufficiently varying the output power of the power source circuit toincrease uniformity of heating of the bowl.
 2. The magnetic fieldcontrol apparatus of claim 1, wherein the magnetic field characteristicincludes at least one of a positional distribution, a magnetic fluxdensity, and a line of magnetic force of the electromagnetic wave. 3.The rice cooker of claim 1 wherein the bowl is disposed within acompartment and includes water circulation paths for the water, and thedeterministic chaos signal is selected for sufficiently varying theoutput power and sufficiently varying the trajectory of the water in thewater circulation paths.
 4. The rice cooker of claim 1 wherein the chaossignal generating circuit provides a pulsed ON/OFF signal havingpulsed-on intervals of variable duration in a chaotic state.
 5. The ricecooker of claim 1, wherein the chaos signal generating circuit providesthe deterministic chaos signal, as a function of determining that achaos trajectory is present based on an index of chaotic state.
 6. Therice cooker of claim 5, wherein the index of chaotic state is selectedfrom a group consisting of a Lyapunov exponent and a fractal dimension.7. The rice cooker of claim 5, wherein the index of chaotic state is aLyapunov exponent; and a value of the Lyzpunov exponent is set to have apositive value not close to zero to maintain the chaotic trajectory. 8.A method of a rice cooker having a bowl to accommodate rice and water tobe heated, a heater to generate heat energy to the bowl an electricsupply to apply electric power to the heater, and a controller to varythe electric power applied to the heater, the method comprising thesteps of: (a) generating a deterministic chaotic signal; (b) controllingthe electric power applied to the heater in response to thedeterministic chaotic signal of step (a); (c) adjusting characteristicof the deterministic chaotic signal to increase uniformity of the heatenergy in the bowl; and (d) selecting the characteristic in step (c) tosufficiently vary the heat energy and increase the uniformity of theheat energy in the bowl.
 9. In a rice cooker having a heater forgenerating heat energy, an electric supply to provide electric power tothe heater, a bowl to accommodate rice and water, and water circulationpaths in the bowl, a method for applying the energy to the bowlcomprising the steps of: (a) generating a deterministic chaotic signal;(b) controlling the electric power supplied to the heater in response tothe deterministic chaotic signal generated in step (a); (c) adjusting acharacteristic of the deterministic chaotic signal to increaseuniformity and space-filling of the chaotic trajectory; and (d)selecting the characteristic based on adjusting step (c) to sufficientlyincrease uniformity and space-filling and thus densely filling up thewater in the circulation paths with the heat energy.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein adjusting step (c) includes adjusting thecharacteristic of the deterministic chaotic signal by determining that achaos trajectory is present based on an index of chaotic state.
 11. Themethod of claim 8 or 9, wherein step (a) includes providing a pulsedON/OFF signal, and adjusting pulsed-on intervals to have variableduration in a chaotic state.